


surely i'll do the same

by memorysdaughter



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Dreams, Fire, Song Lyrics, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-09
Updated: 2016-03-09
Packaged: 2018-05-25 15:45:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6201262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/memorysdaughter/pseuds/memorysdaughter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Keyleth dreams of fire, of the people she couldn't save.</p><p>Pike dreams of fire, but she knows Keyleth's the only one she can save from the flames.</p>
            </blockquote>





	surely i'll do the same

**Author's Note:**

> This came out of hearing the gorgeous song "I See Fire" by Ed Sheeran this morning, and I wanted to use the lyrics in a fic. The song made me think of both Keyleth and Pike.
> 
> Also I have lots of feelings about Keyleth realizing the Fire Ashari are gone.
> 
> And I'm curious about how the Gateway Stones work.
> 
> Slam them all together and... you get this.
> 
> Enjoy!

_Oh misty eye of the mountain below_

_Keep careful watch of my brother’s soul_

_And should the sky be filled with fire and smoke_

_Keep watching over Durin’s sons_

 

Pike dreams of fire.

It licks at her, flames grasping her like burning tongues trying to confess a million sins at once.  It wraps itself around her wrists, her ankles, her waist, searing skin from her body, turning her to ash.

She wakes gasping, terrified, boiling hot.

She cannot bring herself to tell anyone.

After all, what would she say?

And who would listen?

Instead she kneels, penitent on shifting ground, unsure if she’ll rise or fall.

(It all feels a lot like falling.)

 

  _If this is to end in fire_

_Then we should all burn together_

_Watch the flames climb higher into the night_

 

Keyleth dreams of fire.

It swaddles her like she’s an infant, holding her close in a way she feels is supposed to be tender but which in reality feels like smothering.  She pushes out at it, but her limbs remain unsubstantial; each strike she delivers bounces harmlessly off.

She wakes sweating, teeth chattering, sometimes on the floor with Vex looking down at her in confusion.

Her mouth refuses to let the words out.

After all, what more is there to say?

 

_Calling out father, oh_

_Stand by and we will_

_Watch the flames burn auburn on_

_The mountain side_

 

Pike dreams of fire, of choking deep in her chest, unable to cough out the smoke that's eating her up from the inside.  She wonders if this is how Percy felt, fighting to get in a deep breath, hungering for air, for the one thing she desperately needs to live, the one thing the world’s refusing to give her.

She wakes sobbing, a single word on her lips.

_Keyleth._

And curled in on herself, arms wrapped around her torso, rocking her small body back and forth in the room that smells like fire though no flames have ever licked its walls, she gasps out a prayer - _Please, Sarenrae, tell her it wasn't her fault._

She can't tell if anyone’s listening.

She hopes to the stars they are.

 

_And if should die tonight_

_Then we should all die together_

_Raise a glass of wine for the last time_

 

Keyleth dreams of fire, of falling.

Of her vision of dying, of it all being her fault.

Of diving through a hole in the planes, seeking an unknowable end.

She dreams of dragon claws, fire circling her like brash jewelry, power surging through her veins with a sultry, seductive swell.

She dreams of it all being a dream.

It's only when she wakes that she realizes it's not.

When she wakes she's gutted, thinking of Pyra crumbling into ash beneath all of that raging power, no longer seductive, only destructive.

_It's all your fault._

_A quarter of your people.  Gone in an instant, while you did_ _nothing._

When she wakes she knows it's true.

And that, perhaps, is the worst of all.

 

_Calling out father, oh_

_Prepare as we will_

_Watch the flames burn auburn on_

_The mountain side_

_Desolation comes upon the sky_

 

Pike dreams of fire, feels it charring her skin.

Opens her eyes to find a pulsing burn mark down her chest, deep red and aching with power.

It takes her breath away.  She wheezes and chokes, somehow managing to bite out a prayer - _please, please, tell her it's not her fault._

Her hands grope blindly in the dark, searching for something, anything to save her.

Her fingers close around something smooth and cool.  Clutching it she rocks back and forth on her knees, eyes closed, mouth uttering syllables she can only hope are reaching the ears of the divine…

… and then it's as though she’s being pulled through space, across land and water, through the dark night, feet dangling somewhere above the ground, unsure, unsteady, still smelling smoke though wind whips past her ears.

 

_Now I see fire_

_Inside the mountain_

_I see fire_

_Burning the trees_

_And I see fire_

_Hollowing souls_

_I see fire_

_Blood in the breeze_

_And I hope that you remember me_

 

Keyleth dreams of fire, of being buried alive in flickering, crushing anger.

She wakes to the sound of something hitting the floor next to her, a loud _thump._

Before she can even process the sound, Vex is up from the bed, arrow drawn.  Trinket lets out a roar.

There's only stunned silence from the floor, though Keyleth swears she smells smoke.

Then there's light.

“Fire!” Keyleth screams.

But Vex lowers her bow, drops it entirely, steps towards the light, reaches towards it, brings it upright.

And that light bobs towards Keyleth, arms wrap around the druid princess, and the tiny bundle of warmth and healing known as Pike Trickfoot rocks her back and forth, murmuring in her ear, “It wasn’t your fault, Keyleth.  And they know.  Trust me, they know.”

“No,” Keyleth chokes. “They never saw it coming.  They’re gone, and I’m responsible.”

Pike brings her little hands up to Keyleth’s face, uses her thumbs to wipe tears away from Keyleth’s eyes, presses a kiss to Keyleth’s forehead. “Then I too am responsible.  And Vex, and Grog, and Percy, Tiberius, Vax… we all fought that dragon with you.  No one knows who left the portal between worlds vulnerable.  If you wait for punishment that is not coming, you’ll lose sight of what’s here, what’s now.”

In the glow of Pike’s holy symbol Keyleth bows her head, mourning a world that’s now turned to ash, a world she never got the chance to know.

 

_Oh, should my people fall_

_Then surely I’ll do the same_

_Confined in mountain halls_

_We got too close to the flame_

 

Keyleth dreams of fire

 

_Pike dreams of fire_

 

trying to catch her

 

_trying to snare Keyleth_

 

hold her down, take from her what Thordak took from the Ashari

 

_rip her away from Pike_

 

words like a stab in the heart - _your fault, your fault_

 

_but it’s not going to happen - the god of light says so_

 

Keyleth can’t help but believe it

 

_and Pike reaches out, spins those flames into ropes_

 

after all, she cannot conceive of another answer, only guilt

 

_twists them into knots, lifts them from the earth_

 

and she kneels in the ash that once was Pyra

 

_pulses holy light around them, creating shimmering spheres_

 

looking up at a sky no longer touched by sparks and cinders

 

_letting them go into the stars_

 

but by some sort of lanterns, floating away to join the stars

 

_setting them free the way she wants to set Keyleth free from this guilt_

 

and she whispers her gratitude as they soar like wingless birds

 

_until the sky’s a smattering of stars and lights and Pike’s safe in Sarenrae’s arms_

 

then turns and takes Pike’s hand.

 

_And if the night is burning_

_I will cover my eyes_

_For if the dark returns_

_Then my brothers will die_

_And as the sky is falling down_

_It crashed into this lonely town_

_And with that shadow upon the ground_

_I hear my people screaming out_

 

They dream of babbling brooks.  Of flowers.  Of trees spreading roots deep into the ground.

Of shooting stars.

Of all of the things that come _after_.

And when they wake, the fire’s no longer in their heads, no longer biting at the edges of their minds.

Instead it’s in their hearts, pushing them towards an end neither can conceive of.

Fire’s not an ending.

It is, like most things, a rebirth.

But, like most things, it hurts like hell.

 

_I see fire_

_(oh you know I saw a city burning out)_

_And I see fire_

_(feel that heat upon my skin)_

_And I see fire_

_And I see fire burn auburn on the mountain side_


End file.
